


world at your fingers as you comb through your hair

by a_secondhand_sorrow



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Canon Divergence - No Character Death, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Everyone Is Alive, F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Post-Book 2: Crooked Kingdom, Reunions, Slice of Life, based on that one part in ck where Matthias says he wants a domestic moment with nina, they're real cute let them be happy :')
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25737337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_secondhand_sorrow/pseuds/a_secondhand_sorrow
Summary: In her room at the Van Eck Mansion, Nina can almost forget that she’s ever felt fear. Matthias's lips press to the back of her neck, warm and comforting, before he moves a gentle hand to the pins holding her hair aloft and away from her face. As he works, the gentle tugs on her scalp and the hair falling around her shoulders make her eyes drift shut. She can hear nothing but the mingled sound of their breaths and the tiny clink of pins on wood.(or: a quick domestic scene based on matthias's longing in crooked kingdom)
Relationships: Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik, Referenced Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa
Comments: 11
Kudos: 56





	world at your fingers as you comb through your hair

**Author's Note:**

> title (loosely) from "little bird" by jasmine cephas jones!

In her room at the Van Eck Mansion, Nina can almost forget that she’s ever felt fear. 

She stumbles through the threshold when it’s nearing three in the morning, wine-drunk and giddy. Although she hasn’t left Wylan and Jesper’s since early evening, their journey to Ketterdam left her limbs feeling unnaturally heavy. Seeing the Crows was beyond good for her, but Nina is privately relieved at the idea of curling up next to Matthias and sleeping for as long as possible. As tempting as the bed, of the finest quality just as she was used to in the Little Palace, looks to fall right into, she doubts falling asleep fully clothed would be comfortable. 

Matthias is somewhere behind her, probably wrapping up his conversation with Wylan and Marya. This dinner was the first time either Nina or Matthias met Wylan’s mother, although their friends all knew her quite well. Her slightly skittish nature in the face of meeting unfamiliar people melted away as the night wore on. The true surprise of the evening came when she latched onto Matthias like a second blond son. For all the confusion nestled in his face, Nina could see the comfort her approval brought him. Matthias held more memories of his family than Nina did, but that didn’t ease the ache of absence. If anything, his scattered recollection only made his worse than Nina’s. She was happy to leave him be for a few more minutes if chatting idly with Marya brought him some peace from the images he could remember of gold-woven hair and Fjerdan lullabies. Still, she can’t wait until he is with her again. She almost scolds herself for being so silly; they’ve spent nearly every moment together since entering Ketterdam, but the wine-soaked part of her is rarely rational. She yearns for him even when they are under the same roof. 

As though thinking of him drew him to her as a moth follows a flame, Nina catches sight of shining gold hair in the vanity mirror. She grins at the sight, her heart warming in her chest as Matthias slides up against her back and rests his hands on her shoulders. His hair has grown out, and although she loves all of him, she has to admit his hair is her favorite part of his appearance. It meets his shoulders now, elegantly waving down past his face and ears. She’s filled with sudden sentimentality, probably a pleasant reaction of the reunion and journey and alcohol. Nina is not wired for sentiment and static life, but when her eyes meet Matthias’s in the mirror she can’t imagine moving from this moment. 

“Finally tore yourself from the conversation?” she teases, afraid the moment will get too heavy if she doesn’t. His eyes crinkle just the tiniest bit, the icy Fjerdan waters within them calm and still. 

“Ms. Hendricks was lovely,” he argues, although her words were not accusatory. His head falls so that his mouth rests mere centimeters away from her scalp, seemingly content to just be near her. Their long day draws out his lilting accent, his syllables heavier than normal. 

“She was,” Nina agrees, too tired to be contrary. “I see how Wylan is such a ray of sunshine.” The other part of the Wylan equation goes unspoken; to speak the elder Van Eck’s name would be to ruin the quiet peace they have in his home. She lifts a hand to her ear, making quick work of removing her earrings and holding them in her palm. The earrings patter softly on the vanity as she twists her wrist gracefully to free them before moving to the other ear. “Saints, I’m full. I don’t think I’ve ever had dessert waffles quite as good as the ones here.”

“It does seem like they know what you like,” Matthias replies diplomatically, despite the fact he seemed more than a bit exasperated by the unending enthusiasm of the Van Eck’s servants. His eyes track the fall of the earrings from her hand as though entranced.

She reaches her hands behind her head to undo the clasp of her necklace. His hands move from where they rested on her shoulders to take over the task, and her hands drift back down to her lap. He’s far from nimble, so the necklace pulls away from the back of her neck and tugs lightly at her skin. It will certainly take him longer to undo the clasp than it would take her, but she lets him do it anyway. The necklace is Fabrikator-made, which may be contributing to his difficulty, but she’ll never tell him.

A sliver of a memory pops into her mind. Kaz, a tidy five minutes late to their gathering, limping spryly to where Inej perched on the arm of the sitting room couch. His hand, without gloves for the first time Nina could ever recall seeing, brushing against her cheek as he shared a few quiet words with her. Inej had smiled before melting away just as she always did, leaving Kaz looking winded. She’d caught eyes with Nina right before she disappeared, an acknowledgment she would be back before dinner ended. “Did you see Kaz and Inej at dinner?”

“I will not gossip with you, Nina.”

She juts out her lower lip, trying to catch his eye in the mirror. “Aren’t you curious about those two?”

His gaze doesn’t shift from his task at the nape of her neck, but his eyes untwist at the corners in silent acquiescence. Nina waits with something akin to triumph for him to speak. His Kerch vowels are softer than they had been during the Ice Court job, smoothed and sweetened by Nina’s continued influence. “I do sometimes wonder how she can stand the _demjin.”_

Nina snorts, an abrupt and loud sound that nearly pierces the content little bubble of their room. “How can anyone? She’s a better person than either of us, certainly.”

Matthias finally manages to undo the clasp of her necklace, and he slides it from her neck. She shivers as the metal drags away from her skin, Matthias’s breath hot on the back of her head. The chain slides around his fingers as he drops it to the vanity, gold slipping through his pale fingers and pooling to a tiny puddle with a hiss. His attention returns to her at once, and he leans forward again. “Certainly,” he parrots in little more than a whisper. 

His lips press to the back of her neck, warm and comforting, before he moves a gentle hand to the pins holding her hair aloft and away from her face. As he works, the gentle tugs on her scalp and the hair falling around her shoulders make her eyes drift shut. She can hear nothing but the mingled sound of their breaths and the tiny clink of pins on wood.

Once her hair is free, Matthias runs a hand through her hair. Nina leans into his touch. He snakes his arms around the front of her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. She raises her hand to hold his, her thumb running over the back of his knuckles. His head falls to rest in the crook of her neck, soft and cushioned and warm. She inhales sharply at first, his cold nose bumped against the beginning of her collarbone catching her by surprise, but she relaxes quickly into the embrace. Her eyes drift shut, lulled by Matthias’s presence.

Nothing could touch them, not then. Not ever again if they managed to stay just like that. She knew they couldn’t; it didn’t run in their blood. They were wired to fight and never stop fighting, much as indulgence called to them. It would be easy to find a ceasefire, with eight million _kruge_ between them and scores of friends willing to partake in laziness. But she knew neither of them could enjoy it. They would always think of those they left behind without helping, the odds that could have been tipped if they didn’t run away. Ice and adrenaline burned through their veins where most sought comfort, making it impossible to rest. No, domestic life was not one for them, but all the same, Nina savored the thought that it could be. 

Matthias presses a kiss to her shoulder before tugging away lightly, pushing past the noise of discontentment Nina makes. She doesn’t open her eyes, but she sees the faux-stern look on his face all the same. “Bed,” he says, tugging her in the right direction. “You won’t be happy sleeping sitting at the vanity, my love.”

“If you’re so desperate to get me into your bed you can just ask, Helvar,” she grumbles, but she lets him lead her over without opening her eyes all the same. He falls onto the mattress ahead of her, and she falls into him, letting the impossibly soft bedding cushion their fall. She twines her arms around his chest, resting her head over his heart. She can’t sense heartbeats like she used to, and sometimes it makes moments like this difficult and heavy with loss. But hearing Matthias’s heart, thundering its slow beat beneath his warm skin, soothes her like a familiar melody. 

Just as she feels his grip slacken around her waist and his heartbeat slow, she drifts off with the sound of his whispered _I love you_ breaking over her like a gentle wave.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the passage in Crooked Kingdom after Matthias sees a man helping his wife unpin her hair: _"Matthias couldn't name the ache he felt in that moment. He was a soldier. So was Nina. They weren't meant for such domestic scenes. But he'd envied those people and their ease. Their comfortable home, their comfort with each other."_
> 
> i've been trying to ease into writing soc and this seemed like a good place to start, matthias and nina have such a beautiful dynamic. let them be happy :') if you enjoyed please leave a comment or a kudos, it makes my day!


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